Stardust Global Ventures

We’ve been keenly interested in the power of Location Based Services (LBS) for quite some time. Early on Jaiku provided some LBS functionality supported on Nokia phones via cell tower triangulation. Then the mighty Google purchased and all but kiled Jaiku. Brightkite provided an LBS a la Twitter interface that gave insight into why we might really want to use LBS, but has proven pretty user intensive, so the return on effort never led to adoption reaching critical mass.

Google introduced Latitude, which opened all sort of new potential. I wrote Giving Google a bit of Latitude on TheNextWeb back in February of 2009.

Today LBS is a hot topic, but it has a very limited adoption rate and user audience. While location baser services like Foursquare and Gowalla dominate conversation at events like SxSWi, the draw is first and foremost for mobile geeks in the tech sector and for tech-oriented events. We might observe that the greatest use of these tools today so that the Digerati/Twitterati web celebs (@Scobleizer and others in that visibility sphere) share their location so fawning hordes of fans can come touch the robes of the elite. That’s not the only use, but perhaps the biggest and most visible use today. There’s nothing monetizable in those egos, and there is no sustainability.

Secondarily, people in both business and technology are intrigued by the technology, using LBS tools to drive serendipity. The ability to share location in real-time can lead to chance meetings, for business and pleasure in a very personal and human way. Connecting with a client, colleague or friend by chance at a coffee shop, restaurant or Home Depot is a personal encounter. People buy from people, and this humanized and personalized connection through emerging tools builds a bond and forges a sort of alliance between people that we’re only beginning to appreciate.

Sheryl and I use these services extensively to check-in because we’re business and technology leaders in our community, and heavily engaged in the global tech sector. That means friends around the world know when we’ve checked in at Walla Walla Java Hut. For people in our community, they’ll also know that we’re friends of the owners, Brad and Cameo. They know we’re likely to be there chatting for a while and they can stop by to say hi, have coffee, ask a question. In short, we’ve made it easy for colleagues, clients and others to be in touch with us. We use LBS to lower the barrier to access.

This is a conscious choice, and for us carries a high value. We are social, and we value interaction and engagement. We’re also focused on our work, and use tools to leverage our strengths and our value. We think this is important.

That said, the tools of today are in their infancy. And the ones mentioned are not the only tools of today, or of next week. Google Latitude is still alive and well. Yelp provides an LBS oriented yellow pages like service that’s popular and widely used. Twitter has provided LBS information in the API for third-party developers for some time now. Recently they activated that feature on the Twitter web interface. Facebook will follow shortly with something bringing location into play.

Location may be the single most talked about piece of user metadata that exists today. The open discussion isn’t about location as metadata, but that’s where the value chain lies. That’s where the future is and where there’s money to be made, customers to be won, and influence to be leveraged.

What’s missing today for general adoption? The WIIFM quotient. What’s in it for me? Today, nothing. There is nothing in it for me, John or Jane Q. Public. As a member of the general population I could care less about being the mayor of McDonalds, finding a frisbee, collecting valueless influence points or any other intangible that the geek squad might think are fun. They have no value. None. As long as WIIFM = ZERO, critical mass adoption by the general population simply won’t occur. Why would it?

Just like I own my other information, I own my location. For me to share it with you, or the world, requires incentive. Incentive and time to build a new set of social behaviors. (more…)

Many of you have read or seen the interviews I did about the Chile earthquake. I thought I’d tell you in my words what happened and then I’d like to share some thoughts on what social media really is from my perspective.

Saturday, February 27th, 2010 I awoke and got a cup of coffee. It’s the first thing on my agenda after a quick stop at the washroom. I had a few slurps and then went to the office to get phones. This is a common routine for Ken and I. Coffee then phones.

After getting phones, I look to see how many emails and messages there are, clearing them from my phone as I go. Then I typically open tweetdeck. Tweetdeck is the twitter client I use most often on my iphone. Once I have looked at twitter I head to facebook, because while I have a facebook app on my phone it doesn’t show me my pokes and my goal as a rule is to clear up anything that is an action item. Pokes are action items.

Saturday began like any other day, but I got stuck at tweetdeck. Both Ken and I noticed a number of tweets regarding an earthquake in Chile. My brother’s wife is there so our ears perked. We started searching google for news, looking at trending topics on twitter and in general seeking any information about the status of the people in Chile.

Once we saw the magnitude of the earthquake, 8.8 is HUGE, we started wondering if we should contact my brother to find out if he heard anything. I decided to attempt to call Chile to see if maybe all was ok in Santiago, which is where Maria was, and of course couldn’t get through. Call failed. Call failed many times and by now I was getting nervous. I looked at Ken and asked if he thought I should call my brother. We agreed I should.

I woke my brother up from a sound sleep to give him horrible news. An earthquake had occurred and we had tried to reach his wife and couldn’t get through. He said he would start trying. He was so distraught! There is nothing like having to share with a family member bad news. Really bad news. My heart went out to him but I believed it was better he know what happened than to wake and hear it elsewhere.

My brother and I quickly got off the phone with each other so he could start his long vigil while trying to find out what had happened to Maria. In the meantime, I too went to work to see if I could find some answers.

I can’t tell you how often I have been asked what hashtags are and how to use them. I have certainly used them for basic searches before this, but they became a lifeline.

Quickie def. of hashtags: A hashtag uses the hash symbol [pound sign] on your keyboard to draw attention to a specific topic or word.

When I was looking at the trending topics I quickly saw patterns. #Chile was big, #chileearthquake was too. #terremotochile was the biggest one at the beginning of my search so there I went, to http://search.twitter.com/search?q=terremotochile
I noticed a lot of people had many other hashtags so back on twitter I started posting random tweets, at first with no hashtags, moving to hashtags.

I honed my tweets and eventually started getting responses from people until the final response that really was a game changer for us. This one, from @jpcoderch:

We soon worked out the details and he went to work in Chile trying to call my sister in law. It took approximately two hours until he finally got through to her. Maria sent a message back with the code word twinkie, a pet name she uses for my brother so we would know it was really her.

The rest is really history. The interviews I did with the BBC as well as CBS Miami and even the conversation I had with a person from MSNBC which led to a story on their blog, that’s all easy enough to discover and share and it has been shared enough that I do not feel compelled to again.

What hasn’t really been talked about, though each of the news stations attempted to put their own spin on it, is the value in social media. I’m not talking about the communication potential or the way we might all find our next job, but the life altering value I have personally experienced. It also changed perceptions for me.

Prior to this incident, I had relationships with a few fairly well known web-celebs. Do you know only a handful of our moderately well known friends communicated any interest in what was happening or offered on any level to put the word out, and none of them, unless pointed to our situation offered support of any sort? Does this surprise you? I was not surprised, but it did give me pause to consider who we align ourselves with and what value are they in our lives if when something that really matters happens they aren’t even be in the audience as silent support. How engaged is that? I’ll save that for a later post.

Is social media important? Yes. Is it really important? Yes! Social media empowers it’s users to find their own information, to seek out people and ideas to enhance their lives, and provides opportunity to gain perspective. Prior to now, we were fed our ideals, socialized by big media, and brainwashed into believing all was as we were told. The innovators of the world didn’t buy into it and created tools that we can all use today to find what the real truth is. It is also much more as our story clearly demonstrates. It is an organic connection to the whole planet that allows us to see there is more than just us.

My thoughts have been building. I am in the process of writing a much more detailed post about engagement and social web celebs. For now, let me just say thank you to all who helped us and encouraged us through an incredibly trying and frightening time. We were very lucky to have the tools we have to be able to get to a result that was ultimately a gift. We found our family member alive and safe.

We hope all whose paths crossed ours during the awful Chile earthquake have had the kind of outcome we had, and for those who did not – our hearts grieve with you for all you have lost.

Technorati Tags: #terremotochile, #Chile, #earthquake

Social media = ROTC or Return on Trust & Credibility. I grabbed that from friend, Shashi Bellamkonda and think it incredibly compelling. One of the things we all look for when trying to understand the value of social media is a way to define it so it makes sense en masse. In attempting to define the ROI it gets a little sticky because there are so many different sets of analytics and no one can agree on a standard. For more on my thoughts on that here is an article I recently wrote for Women Grow Business in Washington DC – Replacing ROI’s Old Monetary Vision.

Last night I was pointed to a great article that actually helps remove some of the mystery around social media and the value it has in the world we live in today. One of the biggest indicators is that social media investment is minor if anything at all, and your return is potentially huge. I’m sharing from the article but I hope you’ll go and read it in it’s entirety.

The SBSI found that nearly one out of five small business owners are actively using social media in their business. Small businesses are increasingly investing in social media applications including blogs, Facebook® and LinkedIn® profiles.

And further to that is this next paragraph by small business owner Dr. Alan Glazier.

“In order to meet the growing challenges of a tough market last year, I was forced to consider alternative options to keep my business visible,” says small business owner Dr. Alan Glazier, CEO and Founder, Shady Grove Eye and Vision Care. “With a very small investment in social media marketing, I was able to generate new business opportunities. Our Google® ranking is consistently number one for many of the phrases people use to search for eye doctors in and around my city and we have received a “bump” in terms of new visitors to the site. My blog has been picked up by different news sources and led to media interviews. I am now recognized as a thought leader in social networking within my profession and lastly but most importantly, my marketing budget has been reduced by more than 80%.”

Let me just reiterate, the cost of social media is minimal. As stated above, Dr. Glazier lowered his marketing cost by 80%. What could your company do with that 80%?

Of course, it’s not enough to simply create a presence in the online world of marketing venues. People want to have a relationship with those they hire. I would caution you that engagement must be a part of your marketing campaign. Broadcast messages will not build a customer base. You must use tools, video, audio, and messaging systems to encourage a relationship.

Today, small business is winning. It’s winning because they are resourceful and far more attuned to their clients. During an economic downturn such as we have been experiencing for the past 18 + months, small business success is a key indicator of the value in social media.

Yesterday Ken wrote here on stardust three key factors to success. Adapt, Adopt, Adjust. This should be every small business’ mantra. Social media must be included in that.

Remember, Social media = ROTC or Return on Trust & Credibility. We build our trust through social communication. Credibility will follow with engagement.

Let me just get right to it. We would like to introduce my nephew, Brandon Rochelle as a new writer here at Stardust Global Ventures.

A little background on Brandon from his ‘aunties’ perspective.
Brandon is practically a digital native. He has virtually always had a computer at his disposal, has been taking them apart, putting them back together and basically learning them from the inside out since he was little boy. Brandon was there, already online when I had my first connected experience. He showed me the ropes of some of the gaming sites back in the mid 90’s, and he was there to help when I needed a hand. The only time Brandon wasn’t completely entrenched in computer life, and even then not really, was during his stint in the army when he was working on Chinook helicopters in Iraq.

Brandon is a Technical Architect focused on creating physical and logical network infrastructure.

His specialties include: Java Programming, Visual Editing/Creating, HTML, JavaScript, JSP, Computer Management/Repair, Resource Management, adherence to Policies and Procedures, SOA.

He’s currently working on some research around high performance and high bandwidth and next generation applications. Brandon is working with several groups in the Pendelton, OR community to encourage Google to bring their next generation high capacity fiber to the area. He’s not talking about what we can currently do better, but what we can start doing that is an “Out of the Box” thought. Things such as Tele-visits for doctors and patients. Or distance learning for home-schooled or even foreign exchange systems. He’s also interested in simulated virtual environments for 3D conferencing across different locales.

You can find Brandon online at
Twitter , Google, LinkedIn

Something to keep in mind when reading this, I didn’t do a technical review. If you want that, you’ll have to wait for Ken to write something. These are personal experiences and feelings from a pseudo geek.

You’re probably aware of the queries both Ken and I have thrown out about iPhone stuff. We’ve been such strong proponents of RIM, I’m pretty sure most of you can’t fathom us switching sides. We didn’t, at least not exactly.

We got iPhones.

I know, that’s got to be the big shock of the year. So how come I said we didn’t switch sides? To switch sides implies we are no longer rooting for the other team, and no longer view them as quality and that simply isn’t the case.

We took a little road trip this last weekend and our friend Dameon, aka @phoneboy called while we were in transit. Something I thought about while talking to Dameon was how much I still loved my Blackberry. My Blackberry Bold found a new home with my son who swears it’s the best phone ever – that coming off the Nokia 5800 Xpressmusic phone which we loaned him a year ago and he LOVED.

What I loved about my Blackberry.

Both the Blackberry curve and bold are impressive devices. They thread messages wonderfully, their messaging service works almost flawlessly, to send both text and mms is super simple, and the apps for basics like twitter and facebook work better than their native platforms work most of the time.

I also loved typing on Blackberry. Typing on a qwerty keyboard is so much easier than a non qwerty, and when I say that I mean it beats hands down my use of the iPhone. If I had to say one thing would make me think twice again it would be that feature, or lack of a feature that could cause me to rethink.

The Blackberry messenger service was incredible. The iPhone may have over 100k apps but nothing I have found touches what Blackberry messenger could do, from basic messaging, one on one, to group messages, as well as file and picture transfers I simply don’t see anything in iPhone that comes close.

Multi tasking is yet another feature the Blackberry does well. With the Bold I was able to have multiple applications running at the same time, and did. I could have a call up, apps running, all while web browsing, something I’ll talk about later.

There are a few apps on the Blackberry that I miss but the truth is, if I were to shift back to that device I would miss some apps from the iPhone. Still, worth a real mention here is an app that I used in beta called socialscope. There has not been another mobile app that remotely functions the way socialscope does. That one app is a struggle and why it took me a while to buy the tweetie app on iPhone, something I wish I hadn’t purchased because I don’t find it better than anything else on iPhone that’s free. I remember hearing how fabulous it is and all I can say is, those who said that never had socialscope. ‘Nuff said.

Now web browsing. If all you’ve ever had is basic browsing like those non-smart phones offer, the Blackberry browser wouldn’t seem bad at all. I know because that is all I ever had pre Blackberry. However, once you have experienced other types of browsing you quickly see that RIM has a lot of catching up to do in order to provide a comparable experience. I’m not sure they can, actually. It’s unfortunate because so many things about the blackberry are actually superior to the iPhone. The appstore and browser make all the difference in the world. So let’s talk about that.

Experiencing the iPhone.

Many of you know that about a year ago Ken and I both got an ipod touch. Why that matters is because getting an iphone meant we already had a clue how to use it. Using the iPhone isn’t quite like using other phones or pda’s. It simply behaves differently, has a unique interface, which ultimately anyone can use because you don’t have to tell someone what to do to use it, it’s incredibly intuitive. It functions and works so easily and that is one of the great things about it.

We spent a year using ipods yet were pretty hesitant to get an iphone. There wasn’t any one straw that broke this camels back, it was many things.

First, while we don’t much care for the typing experience on iphone, something I’m sure we will eventually not have is a keyboard. Certainly not in the way we have them in current iteration of computer systems. I think touch, and ultimately voice will be our interface. We both think it likely.

Second, we are growing more and more mobile. Down sizing if you will. We want a device we can use in more ways than just to text or im and talk on the phone. Certainly I was able to watch youtube on my Blackberry, but if you put the Blackberry screen next to the iphone screen you can quickly see that there’s much better ability to see things on the iphone. I don’t have to squint as much and that is a big deal as I rarely have my glasses. Ken wears bifocals which also makes the iphone much more user friendly!

Third, the browser. There is not enough white space to talk about how brilliant the browsing experience is on the iphone. I LOVE the browser so much! It is the BEST browser on any mobile device I have ever used, and I have used several. I like that you in essence get tabbed browsing, and so far I haven’t found a limit to the number of windows I can open.

I love the ability to both pinch the screen to make it smaller or bigger, depending on need. The way I can scroll so seamlessly across a page not optimized for mobile browsers.

I don’t like the way my messages are threaded in the message box. It has made it impossible to respond to pokes much of the time. If I get a poke from someone and immediately following get a message, the message can be addressed, the poke can not.

I also don’t like that I literally have 3 different inboxes for mail. They all fall in the mail section but are separated there into 3 different boxes. It is more tedious and  I don’t care for it but it’s certainly doable.

The appstore, that’s incredible. If you’ve tried to use an appstore for any other platform you can appreciate a simple click and install process and how nice that would be. Blackberry appstore would like to be good but it isn’t. It’s a real pain.

Itunes on the other hand makes everything awful. I do NOT like itunes. Now, I will grant you that maybe I don’t use it to it’s best advantage, so that could be user failure. But many people I talk to despise the itunes interface and I wish it wasn’t so annoyingly cluttered, or processor intensive. I also wish there were better directions for how to prevent your non DRM’d media from becoming owned by itunes. I know how to do it should I need to, but it is a non-intuitive process. Funny how all the rest of the things about the iphone just work on an intuitive basis but not itunes. Not sure what happened there but someone clearly dropped the ball.

The sum of the total…

I wish I could tell you all that I wouldn’t change back, but that wouldn’t be fair. I probably would in the right circumstances. But for now, I’m an iPhone user and it’s not that bad. It’s not perfect, but I’m still learning. I’m sure I’ll have more to say as time goes by. I’ve only had it for a couple of weeks and I have a lot to learn.

Like many other people I sat on my sofa watching as patiently as possible for what was coming for Apple. Having recently switched to an iphone from a Blackberry, I had high hopes and great expectations. And I also made the assumption that many others did that there would be a tablet on their horizon. I wasn’t wrong but that wasn’t the big deal. Not in my opinion.

140,000 apps at your fingertips. From day one.

Right now, iPad can run almost 140,000 of the apps on the App Store. It can even run the apps you’ve already downloaded for your iPhone or iPod touch. Learn more

That is certainly a big deal. It’s super cool, and I’m probably more aware of how cool it is having used my new iphone for a couple weeks. But that’s just the beginning. The new iPad Also has the ability to dock to a keyboard. If you haven’t paid attention to me ranting about this in the last year, you won’t know one of the big reasons we didn’t choose an iphone sooner was no physical keyboard. I do miss it and this makes me really happy. Productivity will begreatly enhanced with this.

Watch out Kindle!

Another game changer from my perspective is iBooks. A beautiful, easy to use virtual bookshelf, the book reader and bookstore ‘just works’. Kindle over priced themselves, making their devices more expensive than many netbooks, and consequently their lack of extra abilities will make it impossible to compete with this new device. It’s unfortunate that they will be collateral damage but they will and so will all other book devices.

Unlimited 3G Data? YES!

If I had to pick a single part of the Steve Jobs News Cast this morning that really turned our world upside down, it has to be the 3G data plan for $30 a month, no contract, cancel anytime! I won’t repeat it but do think this will change the future landscape of mobile computing because this one statement invites competition that we haven’t seen for a long time. Competition will be good for our pocketbooks.

Now you’ve seen some of the neat pictures, I’d like to ramble for just a minute. I love this device. This is a device that in my mind is just about the coolest thing I’ve seen, since the pc. I was practically drooling, largely because I see how much this will change the future, our future.

Of course with the good comes the bad, and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention a couple of things that are lacking or outright missing. There is no camera. You can’t do video. You can watch it but no creation. Also, the storage ability, or lack there of makes it impossible to make this a primary computing device.

All of that said, the iPad has so much potential for putting something that was typically a tool associated with mac centric geeks in the hands of everybody. It will force us to change our computing behavior thereby creating acceptance of new ideas to further enhance our lives.

I’m so excited!

Technorati Tags: iPad, Apple, Steve Jobs, Kindle

My 2 cents, for what it’s worth. I don’t get all this hub bub about how scary it is to share your location with the world. We used to put our addresses in the phone book. OH NO! Who hasn’t been ’stalked’?

Just today I saw no less than 4 posts about the geolocation craze. I’m in it and loving it. My favorite quote comes from Euan Semple.

Euan wrote:

I am always surprised when people write as if they were victims of technology rather than in control of it – I guess it is a bit like email!

Why do I like this? It points out that with technology we have more choices and more options to control what we take in, or to better filter things. Expecting everyone else to accommodate us is a little arrogant. Certainly we should try not to be too disruptive, but we really do need to better handle what we take in and stop expecting others to handle it for us. Filters are a key component to our sanity in a world where we are inundated with too many choices and too much noise.

Just a little piece of my mind. I won’t be leaving too many lying around. I need them.

Technorati Tags: geononymity, sheryl breuker, filters

Many of you know, Ken’s phone, a blackberry curve, went kaput just prior to the Christmas holidays. Ken and I have been predominantly Blackberry users since my arrival in the US 2 years ago. My initial experience could have had me forever a fan girl, actually, it did leave me a fan girl. I am a Blackberry fan. I don’t think that’s in danger of changing anytime soon. And why would it? So many things to like.

Of course, what I realized as time went by is that the things I most appreciate about a blackberry are things any smart phone could have offered me. It really comes down to the connectivity. The ability to connect to a variety of people and places from virtually anywhere. The form factor was fantastic, the QWERTY keyboard, outstanding, the multi-tasking superb. Even the browser, though certainly not what many have come to expect, still brought me to the world in ways I hadn’t conceived of 5 years ago.

Today my world is different. I look to the future with a different set of eyes. Eyes far more attuned to possibility. Where is mobility heading? I listened to a webinar by Gartner, an analyst group who has a lot of gifted people sitting in their offices studying trends, people who take real data and make smart projections and predictions based on a variety of factors. One of their projections struck a chord in me.

Gartner has suggested that by the year 2013, 3 years from now, the mobile browser will overtake todays browser in a pc. This makes a great deal of sense to me. It makes sense because the smart phone industry on a global level is growing at a huge pace. People will be browsing on their phones, or whatever we call the next device we pocket that we can use for voice and data.

Something else that has been on everyone’s mind, the Apple tablet. Who knows if they have one up their sleeve or not, I think it entirely likely, but whether they do or not, what is likely is somebody is making one and it will more closely approximate the apple iphone than it will a blackberry curve or bold.

Now, why would I say that? One doesn’t need to be a rocket scientist to have enough perception to know that the swoosh of a finger on a screen beats the hell out of a mouse. Do you remember what it felt like the first time you used a mouse? The inability to control it perfectly, the way the cursor would run all over the screen, and how you felt incredibly inept? The mouse hasn’t changed much in all these years and the lack of control, with practice yes it got easier, but what could be easier than touch with your finger and being that exact? What about voice controls? These are both things the iphone does well and are really the beginning of a new way of computing. I realize all of you who have been using an iphone for what is now nearly 3 years, are laughing and thinking, DUH. We already knew that. But that thought shouldn’t take away from the fact that other devices have had a lot to offer as well.

But the times, they are a changing, and with it our computing habits, and that brings us to devices that also must change to keep up.

I don’t know what you all read on the web, but everywhere I look there are articles talking about smart phones and tablets. These are almost buzzwords today. A few short years ago if you had a mobile phone, all you really cared about was whether it would give you the ability to talk to someone when you were out. Then it was all about text. How many stories have you read about the massive cost of not having unlimited text plans? Today with global travel so prevalent, it’s data costs. What is data? It’s the web pages you view, the things you download, the newspapers you read, the youtube video’s you watch. And we all do watch and read those things, or anyway it would seem so. In a few years it really will be world acceptance, not so different than what the telephone became as it caught on, the only significant difference is the speed that it will do so.

So today I write this on a netbook. The little 10.1 inch screen a far cry from my desires a few years ago to sit in front of a 21 inch screen. No my eyes haven’t improved and I haven’t gotten a stronger prescription of eyewear. What I have gotten is a device that is mobile, handy, wifi enabled, capable of doing basic computing ’stuff’. Beside me sits my trusty Blackberry Bold. But waiting for me in my living room, bleeping away is my new 32 gig iPhone 3GS. It’s ready for me to do what I will. Will it take me to the next iteration of technology? Of course it will. That’s all it can do. But it isn’t perfect and I’m pretty sure there isn’t a technology out there that will wow me the way I could have been wowed a few years back. Technology is too much a part of my world. I can’t see the future, but I have it on good authority we’ll recognize it when it happens.

Technorati Tags: blackberry bold, iphone, technology, sheryl breuker

Sheryl’s pretty well known for her Incidental Interviews. And she’s always engaged in conversations on Twitter and Facebook. What doesn’t always get enough visibility is her writing. So I thought I’d take a moment to give you my pick of Sheryl’s Top Ten posts for 2009. Enjoy. And you’ll get to know her better in the process.

• Passionate about Social Media? Me too and here’s why!
• Investment versus Engagement or Pancakes versus Crepes
• How Social Media Makes a Difference for People!
• The sum of Twitter
• Should your Business be on twitter?
• Who are your influencers? I hope you know
• Small Business Does Not Use Social Media….Yet
• I Have A Dream And What’s Wrong With That?
• All Roads Lead To Walla Walla
• Who’s in Your Network?

The hook -

Make money simply for doing what you already do – tweet! Great line, but is it so simple?

Many of you know I’ve tried several different ad campaigns to see how they work, wondering how effective they are, but also wondering how comfortable I would feel with them.

I know a couple people questioned how smart it was for me to use my account to advertise all sorts of things, and truth be told, in the beginning I was not terribly discerning. Oh, I wouldn’t have allowed everything, but there were definitely a number of things I did allow to get tweeted that weren’t overly popular with my network.

What I learned -

After about a month of using both magpie and spontwts, I learned to be more aware of what content was getting pushed through my account. For instance, while I may appreciate nice clothes, a fashionista I am not. I took a lot of flack back when I was allowing the fashion ads.

This morning I was sent an ad campaign from twittad that on the surface was fine, still I hadn’t paid attention well enough, obviously. I was shocked to log onto twitter on the web and see my sidebar had been removed and in it’s place? A HUGE full size add, right where I typically advertise myself. WOW! How did that happen?

What do you need to consider before involving yourself, and, your twitter account in an ad campaign? Below are a few thoughts I would suggest you consider before jumping in. Once you make the decision to do it, take it slow and have fun with it. Also make sure you disclose to your network what you are doing. I didn’t unless asked which I believe is a mistake in retrospect.

• 1: Know your audience (network, alliances, friends)
• 2: Don’t settle
• 3: It’s not all about the money
• 4: Listen to your people
• 5: If you’re not comfortable, end it
• 6: Read the fine print and understand it before agreeing to anything
• 7: Don’t expect to make a ton of money fast; you won’t. 
• 8: Define your goals

Now, those may seem like no brainers but they may not be quite as easy to pay attention to at first. Funny thing with ads, they’re sort of addicting. They were to me anyway. I kept watching the money add up and was all excited that I might make enough to pay my internet bill or something. I did, but at what cost?

Fortunately for me I have a great network full of a lot of people I actually call friends. They may have dropped the occasional message, suggesting I was in over my head or asking what I was doing, Dameon, but in general they watched me fuss around, changing quantity, honing the ads so they were more the type of thing my network would be interested in, like technology.

There is money to be made from ads, but if your network is small, you will not make tons. It takes time to get the right campaigns coming to you that you can then approve. Above all, keep it in perspective. You will not get rich so don’t even go there. Do expect to hear from people occasionally who are not appreciative of content being broadcast at them. Broadcast isn’t well tolerated right now.

Thanks for your patience, and please don’t message me to tell me my sidebar is replaced with ugly content. It should be remedied now.

SB

We’ve been big fans of location based services. We use Brightkite and Latitude. Lately Foursquare is in the rise.

We’re in the air at the moment but. This quick post is a prelude to thoughts I’ll write later about where this is all headed and why it matters.

I’ve been hunting for my next great job for a while and now I’ve found it. Twitter is looking for a Manager of Corporate IT, and I am the best person they’ll find for the job. (more…)

Anyone who uses Twitter is familiar with what happens each week on #FollowFriday. It’s that day when we all call out to those people we think merit special attention for following. The problem is, it’s turned into what often looks and feels like a grocery list of all our favorite people. Why is that? Well, everyone I follow is someone special who deserves attention.

This week, I’ve been hit hard with the idea of heroes. I’ll explain why, and you can laugh if you will. Sheryl and I watched three eposides of Extreme Makeover Home Edition with Ty Pennington (@iamreallyty). First, I’ll confess I am a bit of a sap. You can talk to Sheryl for any more details, but let’s just say I’m not ashamed to cry. Extreme Makeover is one of a very few TV shows I love, but 9 out of 10 episodes will make me cry. Ok 10 out of 10. It’s a show that from my view is heroes giving back to heroes. I’m very jealous of the job Ty has and would love to be part of that somehow, but it’s a different universe than I live in.

So this week rather than blurt a list for #FollowFriday, I’m going to introduce you to four of my heroes on Twitter. They add value to my daily life. And I started this blog post earl in the week as I gave it a lot of thought.

Jeff Pulver (@jeffpulver)
Sheryl and I share a very special friendship with Jeff. Part of it has to do with his being an inside confederate who helped in my proposal to her live on stage during a presentation at VON.x in San Jose. But we go back farther than that. Jeff and I share and overlapping passion for VoIP and emerging communications technologies that dates back several years. Our passion for social media is something shared and that’s a very personal part of who we are.

In our real life, Sheryl and I have spent time with Jeff at VON, done more than one of the world famous Breakfast with Jeff events. We even kidnapped him across the border from Seattle to Vancouver for a breakfast there. But it goes farther. We met Jeff in Minneapolis. And dragged him downtown to the famed intersection where Mary Tyler Moore did her famous hat toss for the show opening. Yes, we have pictures of Jeff doing the hat toss.

Jeff is a friend and a colleague. He’s also one of my heroes because even in times of personal crisis, identity crisis and self re-invention, he’s someone who always looks to the future, always reaches for more, and never quits. Jeff’s good humor and outlook on life and the future have been a positive influence on my life.

Jeff’s my hero because he shows us to never give up, never quit.

Lotay Yang (@lotay)
Lotay is a friend I’ve not yet met in person, but he’s touched my life in another heroic and positive way. He’s a young fella, a business man in financial services who’s made his way into spheres of business that I’ve never touched. And I don’t really expect I will. Our real day-to-day lives run in very different circles.

Lotay’s attention is focused on doing good through the Black Card Circle Foundation. It’s a network of people who through wealth, celebrity, connections and achievements have come together to make the world a better place by helping support noble causes. For example, the latest invitation I got from Lotay and BCCF is to an event providing support to stop human trafficking. That’s a big deal and even though it’s not something I have any personal experience with, Lotay’s work keeps me ever mindful of the plight of those less fortunate than I.

On top of that, he’s active on Twitter asking opinions, sharing thoughts, quoting wisdom from others and just adding value to the world every day. And he loves his Blackberry as much as we do ours.

Lotay’s my hero because he lights the way to each of us as people taking care of the people of our world.

Shambu Neil Vineberg (@nvineberg)
I met Shambu several years ago as Neil. He’s a PR and marketing advisor to some of the very coolest companies on the planet. You’d recognize many of the names. We spoke before the conference we met at, but I’d say we bonded as friends the first time we met in person. We’ve had the opportunity to work together several times since, and he’s one of the most consummate professionals I’ve ever had the opportunity to work with.

We count Shambu as a personal friend. Sheryl and I spent some time at his home last year where he played guitar for Sheryl. He even entrusted me with a few chords on one of his incredible guitars. Yes, Neil is a magnificent musician and has been a part of that industry for many more years than I’ve known him. He’s the one who introduced Sheryl and I to Narada Michael Walden.

But he’s my hero because he is forever optimistic and upbeat about our place in the world. He loves mankind…humanity. And it pours out in his thoughts and words constantly. Shambu is a friend who believes in the good of the world, the good of people, the power of simply doing the right things. He lives his life that way each day and is an outstanding example. He is a gentleman and a gentle man. A hero.

Shambu’s my hero because he lives a life of positive energy that shows us the power we each hold inside.

David Worley (@DavidWorley)
Last among my heroes for this week is someone you won’t find on Twitter a lot, although we keep prodding him to Tweet more, Sheryl’s 18 year old son David, or Bubba.

Sheryl can point you to stories of David growing up. He’s got ostegenesis imperfecta, or brittle bones. That means that while outwardly you might never notice anything, as a child he was very fragile. I’ve heard David and Sheryl talk about some of the experiences they’ve shared and I am awed at the bond between them and the life they’ve lived.

David is something of an old soul at his young age. He’s far more mature a teenager than anyone I’ve ever known, while remaining childlike in many ways. He’s deeply thoughtful, introspective and inquisitive. He wants answers and can be relentless in their pursuit.

He’s my hero because he personifies the hope of our next generation for me. He’s destined to greatness even though he isn’t really sure what he wants to do some days. His interests are many. He’s articulate and literate. If you think high school age teens are shallow, petty or unthinking, engage David in a meaningful conversation on some topic of substance – healthcare, common sense, politics, education, responsibility, ethics – and hang on for a ride. You’ll get both deep questions and original thoughts that will boggle your mind.

David’s my hero because he gives me hope for what lies ahead for all of us.

Who are your heroes?

Technorati Tags: Twitter, #followfriday, @jeffpulver, @lotay, @nvineberg, @davidworley

The story of The Whitman Mission is much more than captured here, but the highlights I’ve tried to capture via current online works, biographies of Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, as well as some of the local lore.

There are many places to look for information in this digital age, and no end of available links. Simply google Whitman Mission and page after page of history erupts.

I did not dwell on the massacre of the Whitman’s, but it is what brought about so many changes to history and why the Whitman Mission exists today.

I hope this brief travel through time will encourage you to look at your own communities, and of course, entice you to mine.

Testing enhancements for the WP for Blackberry app.

I’m very pleased to see photo posting inside a blog post now fully functional in ths handy application. It works cleanly and seems to (able to handle multiple images making it easy to post a note with pics.

Very cool.